Checkpoint

Your mind has become numb to the screams that should keep you up at night. Even the bed you are on is foreign to you. You think, how can I not remember where I am? Those thoughts escape your mind as humans in coats come near you. You assume they’re human, as they look similar to you, but how sure can you be? One of the humans, the one with a soothing voice and short hair that you feel connected to, asks you how you are this morning. You respond and say that you still do not know many things. When the soothing human touches your cheek, you have a memory. To be clear, this is not a memory of what you knew. It never is, and it never will be. Rather, this memory is something that will happen. These humans in their weird clothing told you that. They also said that they would never lie to you, but somehow, you doubt their words. Another human, one with a harsh voice that strikes fear in your heart, asks you to explain the memory in detail. That’s when you enter the trance. You hate the trance, but it is the only way to explain what you see. Your eyes roll back into your head and the world becomes silent. 

The trance is a strange thing. The humans tell you that you have a gift, but you only see it as a curse. In this trance, you cannot control anything. However, everything that happens in this trance happens to you in real time. If you fall, you get bruised on the bed. If you get hugged, you feel the warmth on the bed. If you die… well, no one knows. The humans use this to their advantage, and you know that something is wrong. The humans tell you it is for the greater good, but you feel that something is off. They say that you can prevent disasters from happening, but you never have seen any disasters. You know that it might be because they did their job well, but you ignore it because these humans have treated you well. You ignore it for your own good. 

Usually, the trance brings you to a park or a crowd of people. Sometimes, you move through easily. Sometimes, you can barely move at all. Sometimes, the trance shows you happy moments, and sometimes it shows you terror. The thing is, this one instance is unlike what you usually experience. 

You are staring at yourself. For the first time, you can see what you look like in your bed. You can see beyond the door. You are free. The humans are writing down your trance, and then you hear a rumble from the hallway. You do not want to leave, but you have no choice. You leave the humans and your body and go into the hallway. You see other humans with papers and with technology you’ve never seen before. You must keep walking, and the noise is only getting stronger. You step outside, and your face is warmer than usual. You turn around and the building is on fire. You walk away from the building and into a forest, where your walk turns into a sprint. A loud noise echoes through the woods, and you feel a small object fly past your cheek. Another noise, like thunder, echoes through the trees. This time, you watch a deer fall to the ground. You keep sprinting, and trip down a hill, getting hit with roots, rocks, and mud. The thunder moves past you, except it isn’t thunder at all. You see humans with what looks like rods or sticks that shoot lightning and fire. You are dirty, but the trance brought you to a lake. You jump into the lake to clean yourself, and as you are wiping dirt off your body, you see someone standing on the shore. You try to swim away, but a current pulls you to the person. You realize that it is yourself. 

You try to speak, but this version of you covers your mouth. “Silence,” it says to you. “Listen to my words carefully. You must not repeat what you have seen here.” As you try to ask questions, you realize your mouth is sealed shut. All the more reason to keep you silent. The other version of you continues to speak. “In three days time, all of this will happen to you. The lab will be set on fire by liberators, and you will escape. The doctors will try to shoot you down, but you will lose them in the lake.” The version of you brings you to a world you’ve never seen before. “After the lake, you will come here. It is where all the Entranced go.” You need to ask questions, but your mouth is sealed shut. The other version of you stares into your eyes. You realize that their eyes are glowing. Two serpents move around your body. You want to scream, but the other you makes you stay calm. “When the serpents inspect you, do not make a sound. You will live.” The serpents then disappear. The other you’s eyes change to purple. “Should you not follow these instructions, your life as you know it will be over. Now, when you wake up, you must tell them that you saw a game. Men were running around outside, and one team won 25 points. You must tell them it was the team from Boston. No more information than that and no less. Got it?” You nod. The other you opens their mouth, and a beam of light builds up. You go to scream, but then your head is engulfed. 

You wake up from the trance panicking. The humans are staring at you. You have so many questions about your trance, but none of them can be answered. This vision has never happened before, and the humans never told you it could. “We need an answer.” The stern human never could wait a moment. You tell as much as you could, and by the end of the session, they believe that you saw the outcome of a game they called baseball. The humans leave, like they always do, and they told you they’d be back later for another session. The one you connect with winks at you. You blush. 

In the meantime, you try to sleep again. When you sleep, you rarely dream about anything. This one occasion though, you relive what you saw in the trance. This time, there was a lot more chaos. Instead of leaving the building calmly, you were being chased. Instead of seeing yourself in the lake, you were alone. Nothing was the same, but you somehow know that you must follow this update of the escape. Nothing should cloud your judgement. 

By the third day, you were wondering when the liberators were coming. You were already visited by the humans, and you haven’t had a vision like that since. Suddenly, you hear the thunder from your dream. You hear the screams of humans, and this was not a vision. This was real life. You saw humans being killed out your window, and you felt the door warm. It became unsafe to leave by your door, which is not what your vision had in mind. Knowing what the other you said, you choose to leave out your door. You run through the building like in your dream, and you exit through the front. The burning on your face was not painful, but it wasn’t pleasant. Suddenly, men with their lightning sticks came to knock you down. Like your vision said, you roll down the hill and lose them in the lake. Unlike your vision, you did not know which way you should go to the safe haven, so you run. As you run through the trees, you begin to have another vision. You try to fight it, for time is your biggest ally. You are unable to hold it back for long, so you scale a tree to hide in. Your eyes roll back and a vision commands your body. This time, it is your other version telling you to make the trip alone. The other you brings you through the paths you must take, and now you know where to go in order to survive. When you snap out of the trance, you climb down the tree and once again sprint. 

You turn a left through the forest, and you immediately begin to recognize everything. You see a yellow bush that you walked past in the trance, and you continue to run. You jump over fallen logs and duck under branches. Something stops you. You hear a rattle. Something slimy slides up your leg and around your arm. Your vision saw two snakes, but there is only one now. It leaves you alone, and as soon as it leaves, you hear a familiar voice.  

It’s your friend from the building. “I’m sorry for what we’ve done to you,” he starts. His eyes look sincere, but he looks desperate as well. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. They said it was for research. They said you would get your memories back. They lied to me, too. Please take me with you.”

What do you do? If you leave him here, he could die. On the other hand, your trance told you to travel alone. You begin racing as a tree around you catches on fire. You hear other humans shouting from the distance. They have the sticks that shoot lightning, and you cannot wait any longer. 

You decide to take your friend and run. 

The two of you run over a bridge and cut the ropes holding it up. This will delay the team chasing after you, but you can take a moment to breathe. Your friend fills you in on certain things, such as those humans are called soldiers. You learn other things, like those lightning stick-rods are called guns, and can be deadly. It doesn’t mean they are, though. You notice your friend has one, but only for protection. Your friend also tells you that his name is Juno. You do not know your name, but Juno tells you that your file name was EV-308. So, he nicknames you E. You like that name. 

Finally, after a long while of walking, you get to the town. You see children running, and humans having a wonderful time. It is the safe haven that your other self talked to you about. Here, the Entranced regain their past and can live on. You want that too. You want that for you and your great friend Juno.

But you hear a click from behind you. Juno says that he’s sorry, but there can’t be any loose ends. You feel a tear fall down your cheek as you recognize the betrayal. You take in a sigh before you collapse to the ground. Your last sight is those soldiers running toward the village. You did not ignore the second snake like your subconscious told you to. Instead, you took the bait. Instead, you had to answer with your life.

You see a bright light, and you decide to walk towards it. 

You wake up in the room again. With every second, you forget what happened. You forget instructions, emotions, and everything else. You realize that your mind has become numb to the screams that should keep you up at night. The bed you are on is even foreign to you. You think, how can I not remember where I am?